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Thursday, June 15, 2017

When I Use the Terms Liberal and Liberalism, This is What I Mean

A comment on this morning's blog post from Hans Georg Lundahl made me think I need to address how I use the terms liberal and liberalism. Here's what Mr. Lundahl wrote, "Chesterton said 'Capitalism is a Sin, Communism is a Heresy' and I think how you use "Liberalism" falls more under the label Communism. (As using labels myself, I am conscious of how other bloggers use them)."

Mr. Lindahl is correct. First, I use "liberal" to define principally those individuals who are cultural Marxists or secular moral relativists. Their beliefs shift in the wind because they do not believe in absolute truth. Whether or not they describe themselves as such, they are revealed by their stated beliefs and their actions. Second, I use the term "liberalism" as did Fr. Felix Sarda Y Salvany in his classic work, Liberalism is a Sin. His book, to me, perfectly describes the liberal mind and can be illustrated through liberals' words and behavior.

So how does Fr. Salvany define liberalism? He identifies four principles of liberal propaganda:

1. "The absolute sovereignty of the individual in his entire independence of God and God's authority."

Think about the liberals you know. How many times have you heard them say, "You have your truth and I have mine." At Planned Parenthood rallies they carry signs that say, "Keep your rosaries off my ovaries." Or, like former President Obama, they describe those with whom they disagree as "clinging to their Bibles and their guns." The contempt they feel for religious people is palpable. Remember the contempt dumped on Mike Pence for his prudent judgment to avoid potentially comprising situations with women. I won't say that liberals are all atheists, but many, if not most, have created a god in their own minds who is more like the Pillsbury Doughboy than the God of Abraham and Saints Peter and Paul.

2. "The absolute sovereignty of society in its entire independence of everything which does not proceed from itself."

When liberals are in control of government they use their power to dethrone God, making themselves the ultimate authority even over life and death itself. Hence liberals support abortion, the murder of useless eaters like Terri Schiavo, and the right of physicians to kill patients. Anyone who appeals to religion and their religious beliefs to support their constitutional right NOT to engage in acts that violate God's commands feels the jackboot. We see this often in gender ideology and the life issues. Think of psychiatrists and parents banned from seeking help for children suffering from gender dysphoria and families overridden by hospitals and courts so patients can be killed. Remember all the bakers, photographers, caterers, etc. subject to lawsuits and financial ruin for refusing moral complicity by involvement in same-sex so-called marriage. The tyranny of the state is coming down hard on Christians in this country and we can look forward to more politically correct legislation like "hate-speech laws" if liberals have their way.

3. "Absolute civil sovereignty in the implied right of the people to make their own laws in entire independence and utter disregard of any other criterion than the popular will expressed at the polls and in parliamentary majorities."

The tyranny of moral relativism always results in mob rule -- in the beginning. All you have to look at to confirm the point are the French and Russian Revolutions. Once a culture is destabilized and thrown into chaos, the next step is the tyrant. Remember Napoleon? Remember Lenin? We are moving toward chaos as is illustrated by the suppression of conservative free speech on almost every college campus in our country including Catholic campuses, the persecution of conservative professors like Anthony Esolen and John McAdams, and liberals rioting whenever they don't get their way, i.e., the "absolute sovereignty of the individual" as long as he or she is a liberal.

4. "Absolute freedom of thought in politics, morals, or in religion. The unrestrained liberty of the press."

So when I speak of liberals and liberalism, these principles define what I'm talking about.

Pope Benedict often described the "dictatorship of relativism" and was criticized for it. I believe that, at their core, moral relativism, cultural Marxism, modernism, and secular humanism all share the same fundamental principles. God has no authority. Absolute truth does not exist. The individual is his own arbiter of truth and has the right to make his own values and live by them, and the purpose of government is to establish an earthly Utopia (by force of law if necessary) based on liberal values (or non-values).

A characteristic of liberalism is inconsistency and contradiction. Liberals change their positions according to the latest popular and politically correct viewpoint, or depending on whether it advances their propaganda. Hence what was okay for their heroes Barack Obama and Bill and Hillary Clinton is a moral evil when espoused by their enemies. And, yes, they identify those who disagree with them as evil and maniacal. They are as fervent in their irreligion as the most fanatical fundamentalist in his beliefs. Anyone who's ever listened to a Richard Dawkins' rant knows what I'm talking about.

And so I say that Catholics cannot be liberals. We reject liberalism in our Baptismal vows when we reject Satan, the first and most radical of liberals, and all his works and empty promises. There is no common ground between Catholicism and liberalism as philosophies of life.

So I'm praying today for liberals that they come to their senses and recognize the God of the universe, as their Creator, Savior, and Sanctifier. In Him we live, and move, and have our being. Everything else is straw as St. Thomas Aquinas said near the end of his life.

Our Lady, Help of Christians, pray for us and for our liberal brothers and sisters that we might all meet merrily in heaven in the shared belief that God is God and we are not!

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